Big News in MN

Today was a huge news day in the state of Minnesota. The sports happenings that have the whole state talking. Also, something important happened. Once again, the state of Minnesota finds itself requiring a recount to decide a statewide election. And like the Franken/Coleman recount, the outcome is in doubt only to those who truly embrace denial. Today, the MN Supreme Court tossed out a challenge from the GOP that asked counties to reconcile ballots with the numbers of voter signatures. Though this may sound like a logical expectation, it’s really a stalling tactic. Pure and simple. Because reconciling those things requires counting. A lot of counting. Receipts. Ballots. Signatures. Counting, counting, counting, to reach the same results.

By throwing out the case, which took 45 minutes of oral arguments and under two hours of deliberation before unanimously tossing out the suit, the state can move on to conducting the official recount. Said judges: “It strikes me that the practical effect is you end up with the same number either way,” said Justice Alan Page; “At the end of the day, isn’t that voter’s receipt simply proof of the underlying signature?” said Justice G. Barry Anderson.

It would be unfortunate for the state GOP to further bring the courts into the count. I have yet to hear compelling arguments for how Tom Emmer could over come the 8,700+ vote differential. But it has been rumored that drawing out the process as long as possible is in the cards, thus giving the newly elected GOP majority more time to legislate with Gov. Pawlenty remaining in office. Who knows what will happen. But some in the GOP seem inclined to draw things out:“GOP attorney Tony Trimble would not say whether they planned to file a lawsuit. “We’ll proceed with the administrative recount,” he said. “Who knows what other issues might arise as these procedures move forward?”

You are correct, Mr. NJD. And I am incorrect.
I was thinking about the recount numbers in correlation to the legal battles. The Franken/Coleman recount itself was extremely close. After the recount was essentially decided, however, the legal battles ensued. Here, the recount is not extremely close and is all but decided, and I was simply hoping that the legal battles will be avoided.
Coleman had the right to expect that he might be able to win that race. But once he couldn’t, well…we’ll see what the GOP have in store for this race.